


The Stars In Your Eyes Look Like Fireworks.

by CasTheButler



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Bitty gets mentioned at some point, Catholic Dex, Getting Together, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, and drunk cuddles, and it not a soulmate au but I totally mention soulmates, apparently these fuckers are super tactile in this, sort of pre-getting together I guess?, there is hand holding, they are friends my pals, this story is really just about soft boys and being brave
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 10:13:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14542470
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CasTheButler/pseuds/CasTheButler
Summary: William Poindexter doesn't remember exactly how old he was when he vowed to never fall in love.Derek Nurse was nine years, five weeks and three days old when he wished upon a shooting star





	The Stars In Your Eyes Look Like Fireworks.

William Poindexter doesn't remember exactly how old he was when he vowed to never fall in love. He does remember the old, ratty carpet of his bedroom scratching at his knees as he prayed to God to never let him meet his soulmate.   
God had apparently forgotten or never listened at all because Derek Nurse existed in Will's proximity. 

Will hadn't realised at first, because Derek is endlessly frustrating and Will tells everyone who will listen, himself included that he can't stand Derek. Everyone, including himself, knows that this is a lie. 

Will is the first to sign up for Nursey Patrol. He goes to every poetry night even though he can't understand a word. He takes over the Haus kitchen to make Derek soup when he's feeling sick. He downloads snapchat for the sole purpose of receiving twenty pointless snaps a day. 

***

Derek Nurse was nine years, five weeks and three days old when he wished upon a shooting star. He hoped for his soulmate.   
He wished for someone smart and brave and strong. Someone with fair skin like out of a fairytale, someone with hair like fire to keep him warm. Someone who loved Derek no matter what. 

Derek hates Will on sight. The way he looks fills Derek with false hope. He's already gone through this at Andover. He can't do it again. Then William Poindexter opens his mouth, and Derek thinks:  
Good. I won't fall in love with this one. 

It doesn't take him long to realise he's wrong. 

***

“Hey Dex, Dexy Dex” Nursey whines and Will glares at him. Nurse pouts, curling in on himself. Will sighs and slides onto the bottom bunk next to him. 

“You’re drunk,” Will points out needlessly. Nursey grabs Will’s waist. Will lies down and wraps his body around Nursey as best he can. Nursey makes a soft humming sound low in his throat.

“Needy motherfucker.” Will mutters. Nursey elbows him in the ribs. Will lets a groan of pain, partially playing it up for his audience. Nursey tangles his fingers into Will’s and uses the leverage to wrap Will’s arms tighter around his body. They’ve been doing this for awhile. Nursey is a drunken cuddler, in fact, Nursey is an all times cuddler. Will is just helping his bro be comfortable, nothing more. He’s nearly asleep when he thinks he hears Nurse say something. Will’s chest tightens because he couldn’t have heard those words. If Derek Nurse loves him, he might just love him back. 

***

“Dude, I know it’s part of your process or whatever, but could you stop fidgeting with your fucking pen,” Dex demands. Derek freezes and places his White Caran D’Ache Leman Slim Ballpoint pen on the desk. He’d received it for his eighteenth birthday. He didn’t really use it, but it felt nice to hold. Derek walks over to Dex’s side of the room and hovers over his shoulder. 

“What are you working on?” He asks. Dex leans back into Derek’s space, and his shoulders bump against Derek’s chest. 

“I’ve been staring at this screen for so long that at this point I don’t even know anymore.” Dex huffs. Derek cards a hand through Dex’s hair and tilts his face, so his roommate is looking up at him. 

“Annie’s break,” Derek says. Dex hits the save button and closes down his computer. The rest of the Haus is abandoned, but the Kitchen smells distinctly like Bitty’s just put it to use. The walk to Annie’s doesn’t take long and is done mostly in companionable silence. Derek has several topics running through his mind that he could egg Dex into a debate with, yet he’s smart enough to realise it won’t be appreciated and will result in an actual argument.

Derek buys a plain black espresso for Dex and a white affogato with added caramel sauce for himself. Dex looks like he’s about to complain. 

“It’s my turn to pay, and you know it,” Derek says before he can get a word in edgewise. Dex lets out a small huff and searches around for a table. The place is pretty busy but they manage to take up residence at a tiny table tucked into the corner. Despite the number of people, it's only a few minutes before someone calls their order. Dex walks up to the counter to collect it. Derek watches as the Barista says something to him and Dex turns bright red. Dex is still blushing when he rejoins Derek. 

“Look at you” Derek teases. 

“Do not” Dex growls in reply. 

***

Will can't believe someone would think him and Nursey are on a date. Now he can't stop thinking about it. What would a date with Nursey even be like? He doubts Nursey would even want to go on a date with him. Will grits his teeth inside his mouth and drinks his coffee. He battles back and forth in his consciousness. His eyes never leaving Derek as he prattles on about one of his lecturers. Will thinks it might be time to let go of old ideas. He's too far gone at this point anyway. 

“Hey Nurse,” Will says. Nursey pauses his rant mid-way through a sentence about course material needing updating. 

“What's up?” he asks. Will takes a deep breath in. He's pretty sure the only reason he doesn't have a panic attack is sheer force of will. 

“Would you like to go on a date?” he breathes out. Nursey blinks at him owlishly a few times.

“Sure bro. Who'd you have in mind?” Nursey questions. Will sighs and folds in on himself. Nursey reaches for his hand and Will snatches it away. When Will looks up Nursey looks as though he's on the verge of crying, Nursey catches him looking and schools his features into something nonchalant. 

“I meant with me, but if you're not interested.” Will starts to say. Nursey reaches for him again and this time Will lets their fingers tangle together. 

“I'm interested. Yes. I'm interested.” Nursey says in a rush. 

***

 

Derek isn’t sure he’s not dreaming this whole scenario. He takes solace in the fact Dex is squeezing his hand tightly, making it impossible to let go. Not that he’d even want to. 

“I didn’t think you liked, uh...well anyone actually, but especially not me,” Derek says. Dex shrugs and looks around nervously. Despite all the people, there’s really no-one around to overhear. 

“I mean my family is a bit, I wouldn’t say homophobic. Just intolerant, I guess.” Dex explains. Derek wills himself not to scoff at that. This isn’t his life, and he’s made enough judgements about Dex in the past. Dex has made just as many about Derek, they passed by that stage a while back. Dex gives him a weak smile. “I know that sounds dumb. I just mean they aren’t like aggressive or violent or anything. It’s just all these little niggly remarks. Like how we have to think of the children or how unnatural it is.” Dex throws his voice into a high pitch. “The gays are sinners William.” Derek cracks a small, encouraging smile and Dex reverts back to his voice. “Yeah well. I go to church every Sunday and my aunt Nancy doesn’t, so I’m not sure what that says.” 

“You still go to church?” Derek asks, he knows Dex is Catholic, but he doesn’t recall him ever mentioning going, at least not on such a regular basis. 

“I mean I try? There’s a chapel on campus, and there’s usually one around when we’re on roadies. I skip sometimes, but I try not to. It’s nice.” Dex tells him. Derek nods along and breaks into a wide grin. Dex is rolling his eyes before Derek even speaks. 

“William Poindexter, You heathen!” Derek exclaims. Dex lets out a loud laugh and a couple nearby them tells him to shush. 

“Yeah whatever, we were leaving anyway.” Dex bites back. It’s not until they’re outside that Derek realises Dex still hasn’t let go of his hand. 

***

Will doesn’t want to let go. He knows he’s going to have to eventually. If he's honest he’s worried the second he’s not touching Nursey that he’ll revert to being a scared, lonely, loveless child. 

“Hey Dex, do you want to go back to the Haus now?” Nursey asks. Will squeezes Nursey’s hand, lets out a soft sigh and lets go. 

“Sure.” he agrees. Nursey looks him up and down.

“Do you want to keep holding my hand?” Nursey questions, holding his hand out. Will stares at it for what feels like too long.

“Sure,” he says and retakes Nursey’s hand cautiously. Nursey rubs his thumb firmly against the back of Will’s hand. Will relaxes his shoulders. 

“So where do you want to take me on a date?” Nursey asks. Will hadn’t really thought about it. He’s grateful to have something to think about rather than be buried in his own thoughts. 

“Someplace fancy, not the type of fancy that costs a few hundred dollars a plate, but like you wear a nice suit and the table clothes aren’t just disposable paper, and there are candles and the background music falls somewhere between soft classical and jazz. Maybe somewhere Italian, pasta is always nice food.” Will rambles. Nursey is looking at him as though he hung the moon. 

“I’d really like to kiss you,” Nursey says. Will’s eyes go wide.

“Not, not yet.” Will stammers. 

“Dex, Will. I’m not expecting anything out of you okay? We’re just going to go back to the Haus and do homework and then watch something on Netflix. Sound Chill?” Nursey asks. Will knows Nursey said it that way on purpose and shakes his head in exasperation.

“Yeah. It sounds chill.” Will replies. 

***

If William Poindexter could go back and tell his younger self that falling in love wasn’t a curse and that it would make him the happiest he’s ever been. He would do it in a heartbeat. He and Derek have a thousand steps ahead of them, and he feels brave enough to take everyone.

***

Derek Nurse is mentally high-fiving himself over his wish finally coming true.

**Author's Note:**

> So there we go. I've never written these characters before and I'm aware they're probably out of character. They also meant to be pretty nervous and unsure of these developments, but hey! they like each other and they're trying to be supportive of each other while internally screaming for joy over the cute boy liking them back. 
> 
> The fic is pretty short and some aspects probably aren't as developed as I would like. I didn't want to rush them into anything too intense within the story parameters themselves. You're free to imagine anything you feel like in regards to how their date goes and their developing relationship.


End file.
